Identification, Images, & Information
For Insects, Spiders & Their Kin
For the United States & Canada
Clickable Guide
Moths Butterflies Flies Caterpillars Flies Dragonflies Flies Mantids Cockroaches Bees and Wasps Walkingsticks Earwigs Ants Termites Hoppers and Kin Hoppers and Kin Beetles True Bugs Fleas Grasshoppers and Kin Ticks Spiders Scorpions Centipedes Millipedes

Calendar

TaxonomyBrowse
Info
ImagesLinksBooksData

Species Iridopsis gemella - Hodges#6587

Classification
Kingdom Animalia (Animals)
Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)
Subphylum Hexapoda (Hexapods)
Class Insecta (Insects)
Order Lepidoptera (Butterflies and Moths)
Superfamily Geometroidea (Geometrid and Swallowtail Moths)
Family Geometridae (Geometrid Moths)
Subfamily Ennominae
Tribe Boarmiini
Genus Iridopsis
Species gemella (Iridopsis gemella - Hodges#6587)
Hodges Number
6587
Synonyms and other taxonomic changes
Iridopsis gemella (Rindge, 1966)
Anacamptodes gemella Rindge, 1966 (1)
A. g. gemella Rindge, 1966 (Southern Texas)
A. g. tethe Rindge, 1966 (Mexico)
Numbers
There are 21 species of the genus Iridopsis in America north of Mexico.
Size
Rindge (1966) listed the forewing length of A. g. gemella. (1)
♂ 13-18 mm.
♀ 15-18 mm.
Identification
Rindge (1966) description of the adults including genitalia is in PDF. (1)
Range
Southern Texas to Mexico. (2)
Holotype ♂ A. g. gemella from Mercedes, Hidalgo County, Texas, February 9, 1959, collector H. Schmalzried. (1)
Moth Photographers Group - large range map with collection dates.
Season
Rindge (1966) stated the species probably flies year round. He collected specimens in every month except February. (1)
Food
Larval host unknown. (1)
See Also
"... This species is very similar to defectaria, but it occurs to the south of that species. It does fly with perfectaria, and these two species also resemble each other in appearance. They are easy to separate on genitalic characters, however, as they are in different groups of the genus. With the males it is often possible to remove the scales from the top of the end of the last segment in order to examine the uncus, which will allow placement as to group, and thus separate perfectaria and gemella.
The genitalia of this species are quite similar to those of defectaria. The male structures in the present taxon can be recognized by the differences in the valves and by the dentate area of the aedeagus. The female genitalia can be determined from the fact that the sterigma has both anterior and posterior median indentations."(1)
Iridopsis defectaria is not found in southern and western Texas.

Iridopsis perfectaria is best separated by genitalia where range overlaps.
Print References
Rindge, F.H. 1966. A revision of the moth genus Anacamptodes (Lepidoptera, Geometridae). p. 224, fig. 9 (map). (1)
Works Cited
1.A revision of the moth genus Anacamptodes (Lepidoptera, Geometridae) (1966)
Frederick H. Rindge. 1966. Bulletin of the America Museum of Natural History 132(3).
2.Illustrated Checklist of the Lepidoptera of the Lower Rio Grande Valley, Texas, Vol. 3C: Micro-Moths and Geometroids
Ed Knudson & Charles Bordelon. 2008. Texas Lepidoptera Survey, Houston. 30 pp., 18 plates.
3.North American Moth Photographers Group
4.BOLD: The Barcode of Life Data Systems